5)Bibliography

Bibliography


Page.1 Introduction

(1)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam .[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(1)Halperin, David M. “Homosexuality.” The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford University Press, 1998. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. York University. 5 October 2010.

(1)Shapiro, Harvey Alan. 2007 The Cambridge Companion to Anchaic Greece. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2 (. pp. 90 – 91.)

(1)Shapiro, Harvey Alan.2007 The Cambridge Companion to Anchaic Greece. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (. pp. 90 – 91.)

(2)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( Varieties of "homosexuality" Varieties of "Art" pp.15.)

(3)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( Varieties of "homosexuality" Varieties of "Art" pp.16.)

(4)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( Varieties of "homosexuality" Varieties of "Art" pp.18.)

(4)Hornblower S. and Spawforth A. Oxford Classical Dictionary entry on homosexuality,Oxford,Oxford UniversityPress (p.720–723)

(5)Martial 1.24 and 12.42; Juvenal 2.117–42. Williams, Roman Homosexuality, pp. 28, 280; Karen K. Hersh, The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 36; Caroline Vout, Power and Eroticism in Imperial Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 151ff.

(6))Richlin A, 1993 "Not before Homosexuality", California ,University of Southern California Press in junction with The University of Chicago ( p. 561.)

Page.2 Free Lover 1960-1979

(1)Lavergne .M.G,1997,Sniper in the Tower,Texas.University of North Texas Press.

(2) Copping R,2011,VW Camper and Microbus,London,Shire Liberty.

(2) Nair.T,2011Psychedelic Art Movement [Online]: Available at:http://www.buzzle.com/articles/psychedelic-art-movement.html

(2)Krippiwr.S,1977,International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, San Fmncisco ,Humanistic Psychology Institute

(3)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(3)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(4)Peter Mac,2012,Peter Max Bio.[Online]Avaliable at:http://www.petermax.com/

(5)FOTW Flags Of The World,2009,Gay Pride/Rainbow Flag.[online] Avaliable:http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-rb.html

(5)FOTW Flags Of The World,2009,Gay Pride/Rainbow Flag.[online] Avaliable:http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-rb.html

(5)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(5)Heinz B, Gu L, Inuzuka A. and Zender R,2002,Bowling Green, Human Sciences Press .

(5)Public Radio International,2012,Studio 360 Redesign:Gay Flag.[Online] Avaliable at:http://www.studio360.org/2011/jun/24/studio-360-redesign-gay-flag/

(5)Worldstudio,2009,Rainbow for PRI's Studio.[Online] Avaliable at:http://blog.worldstudioinc.com/?s=Gay+flag

Page.3 The Aids Decade 1982-92

(1)Angels in America.2003,Film Mike Nichols,America,HBO Home Video.

(2)Robert Lance Gösi Art,2012,Homos-Sexuality.[Online]Available at:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.270735392999685.65964.177273905679168&type=3

(3)Tate Modern,2010.Gilbert & George Hunger.[online]Available at: http://beta.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilbert--george-hunger-ar00173

(4)Tate Modern,2010.Gilbert & George Thirst.[online]Available at: http://beta.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilbert--george-thirst-ar00174

(4)Milwaukee Art Museum,2008,Gilbert & George development.[online]Available at:http://www.mam.org/gandg/details5.htm

(5)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(6)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(6)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(6)The Keith Haring Foundation,1997-2012,K.Haring.[Online]Avaliable at:http://www.haring.com/home.php

(7)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam .[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(7)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( The Aids Decade,1982-92 "Art" pp.218-119)

(7)Laura Slezak Karas ,2008,Gran Fury Collection ,Pdf,The New York Public Library
Humanities and Social Sciences Library Manuscripts and Archives Division .[Online]Avaliable at:http://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/archivalcollections/pdf/granfury_0.pdf


Page.4 Modern Day homosexual 1992-2012 (Summary and Conclusion)

(1)Rebecca Container Gallery ,2012,Dana Wyse [Online] Avaliable at :http://www.rebeccacontainer.com/wyse.htm


(2)Iko Studio,2012,Diego Tolomelli[Online] Avaliable at:http://www.ikostudio.it/en/

(3)Joe Average Art,2012,Joe Average Bio.[Online] Avaliable at:http://www.joeaverageart.com/

(4)Robert Mapplethrope,2012,Robert Mapplethrope Bio:[Online] Avaliable at :http://www.mapplethorpe.org/biography/

2) Free Love 1960-1970

Page.2

                                   Gay Art :The influential years 1960-1979 ( The American years)

Author: Gay Art had been around for along time and its uses of colour had been pressent but underlying. From 1900 to 2012 there have been great examples of "homo art" but if every there were two particular decades of change that lead the way for freedom of "homo culture" and expressionism the 1960-1970s where the golden age of change. Like all the years before hand and there after art was there to document the process of social dysfunction and participation in all its forms . Why are the 60's and 70's so memorable...apart from the main stream political upheaval such as the University shootings of the 60's (1)(University of Texas 1966) the Vietnam war and of course Watergate . In the 40's and 50's "Homo art" was somewhat muted,with styles that where less about subject matter ,colour and more about style contextualising. However people had more to say in the 60's and 70's with every changing social culture such as the "Hippie "movement which aloud allot of gay people to lead free life's under that movement which was  more  accepted then any gay movement of the time or at lest in the years of 1960 to 1966. The Hippie movement giving freedom of expression with out accountability or justification . It is also very important to note that at this time the gay activist Harvey Milk was making strong political statements. Harvey did not have a direct relation to art as such, but in field of photographic documentation his contributions are priceless . And his political struggles gave a mood that artists worked to. Glamor and youthful change had arrived in the world. Art was no indifferent. And what better way to show this change, then art on wheels !

        (2) The VW type 2 T1. The flag ship for the Hippie Movement !

Psychedelic Art 

The VW type 2 1967

   (2) "Only a true artist would know the importance of art and how it can be a great form of self-expression. In all forms of art, one has witnessed the changing trends since the ancient days. These trends all are unique in their own way. While some are on the subtle side, others tend to be bit rebellious. The 1960s was one such period that witnessed many trends from the hippy culture to people who would love to rebel and be seen and heard. In art, psychedelic art was one such trend that raised quite a few eyebrows!The distinctive characteristic of psychedelic art is the beautiful, colourful images that have a surreal feel to it. As a direct influnce of drugs."


(2 “The influence of psychedelic drug experience upon various aspects of the creative process has been studied by very few researchers over the years. Although no conclusive statements can be made, it appears possible that these substances may be associated with original ideation and imagery, especially in the case of professional artists. There is no evidence that LSD-type drugs can evoke creativity on the part of individuals who are not known to be talented before drug ingestion. Creativity involves transforming fantasy into reality; the study of psychedelic experience, hypnotic experience, and other alterations in consciousness may help science to understand this process."

Author:The reason for such a strong connection between the Hippie movement and the "Homo culture" is because at grass roots level they were very similar. Gay people where looking for a voice . To be able to express themselves with out fair of jail or death . It was quite natural for many gay people to place themselves under the hippie umbrella...what with the drug use in both community's , free thinking and questioning attitudes it was a relative transaction. To outsiders they where one and the same .One key factor that attracted the gay community to the Hippie life style was the ability of free expression at a time when the gay community was craving just that .The art of the time and colours used was an extension of what the community sort in a social level. I consider this the most important link between "Homo Art" and our attraction of colour as people. It is not simple an attraction to colour but freedom . It gave a reason for underling feelings people where feeling . Colours equals freedom on every level and by the same toucan art equals freedom.

(3)

(3)                                                               Andy Warhol
An iconic American pop artist, filmmaker, and graphic designer, Andy Warhol blurred the boundaries between art and advertising. Unapologetic about his homosexuality, Warhol often produced erotic photography and male nudes, and his work was heavily influenced by gay underground culture. Warhol’s images, from his Campbell’s soup cans to prints of celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, and Elizabeth Taylor, are an astute comment on the materialism and glamor of the 60s and 70s.

Author: Andy Warhol was a gay artist ....he however did not focus on strictly gay art . However his style of "Pop Art" and "Reappropriation"of work and colour had a strong effect on gay culture and gay art .In particularly gay symbolism of the 1970's. This era in art was the era of colour. Never before had colour  been used in such a way, with strong political and historical backgrounds with avantgarde undertones.

                                                      (4)         Peter Max  Love  1969

                                                             


Author: By the end of the 60's things had started to change again . LGBT culture no longer where happy hiding under the "Hippie" banner . They wanted there own identity and style. With more stylistic art from artists such as Peter Max and Warhol where color was still strong but where the tone of work was forming towards subject matter , the overly all gay community started finding a defined style of their own.However there roots would always be one that large came about from the Hippie movement.

                                        (5)                The Rainbow flag of 1978.

                                    (5)  The reworked Flag of 1999. (The current version of the Rainbow flag)

                                        (5)   A 2009 reworking from the studio radio competition.

Pride Flags

(5)The rainbow flag has changed dramatically since its first hand-dyed creation by Gilbert Baker and his boyfriend Jomar Teng. The original version of the flag had eight colors, each of which stood for concepts including healing, sunlight, nature, and spirit. Since then, the now-common six color flag is only one of many variations, all of which symbolize the diversity and inclusiveness of the LGBT movement. Gilbert Baker himself encourages the LGBT community to continue to remake the flag for ourselves. In an UK Gay News op-ed piece, Baker wrote: “In my view the rainbow flag is unfinished, as the movement it represents, an arc that begins well before me, its breadth far broader than all of our experiences put together, reaching the farthest corners of the world with a message of solidarity and a beacon of hope for those who follow in our footsteps.”

                            (5) A very bad reworking of flag for the Studio 360 competition.

                            (5) Another entry to the 2009 Studio 360 competition . 

Author: The Rainbow Flag or "Pride Flag"  has been a symbol of LGBT culture .Its history spanning 33 years of change . The  Rainbow flag was first seen in 1979 again its use of colour and its reason for being steamed from the Hippie movement of the 1960's. There have been many attempts to modernize the flag  in the 1990's and 2000's but with little success. In 2009 American Radio show (5)" Kurt Andersen’s Studio 360 " held a competition to rework the flag.However some of the submissions given lefted many in the gay community horrified as it showed a regression of attitudes. Even a professional design house (Studioworks or WorldStudio's ) weighed into the competition .None of there entry's tuck. . Why ? There are culture,political,historical and design elements that simply where not taken into consideration in the new reworking. Most of which are down to the  simple yet strong and simplistic  design of the flag as it stands now .

(1)Lavergne .M.G,1997,Sniper in the Tower,Texas.University of North Texas Press.


(2) Copping R,2011,VW Camper and Microbus,London,Shire Liberty.


(2) Nair.T,2011Psychedelic Art Movement [Online]: Available at:http://www.buzzle.com/articles/psychedelic-art-movement.html

(2)Krippiwr.S,1977,International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, San Fmncisco ,Humanistic Psychology Institute

(3)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(3)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(4)Peter Mac,2012,Peter Max Bio.[Online]Avaliable at:http://www.petermax.com/

(5)FOTW Flags Of The World,2009,Gay Pride/Rainbow Flag.[online] Avaliable:http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-rb.html

(5)FOTW Flags Of The World,2009,Gay Pride/Rainbow Flag.[online] Avaliable:http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/qq-rb.html

(5)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(5)Heinz B, Gu L, Inuzuka A. and  Zender R,2002,Bowling Green, Human Sciences Press .

(5)Public Radio International,2012,Studio 360 Redesign:Gay Flag.[Online] Avaliable at:http://www.studio360.org/2011/jun/24/studio-360-redesign-gay-flag/

(5)Worldstudio,2009,Rainbow for PRI's Studio.[Online] Avaliable at:http://blog.worldstudioinc.com/?s=Gay+flag

4) Modern Day homosexual 1992-2012 (Summary and Conclusion)

Page 4.
                                           Modern Day homosexual 1992-2012 (Era of money)



Author: As the 80's faded and 1990's became "Homo art" and gay artists tuck a back seat . From 1992 onwards gay art has taken on very much a "Unknown " states and onces again is done "Underground". The importance of gay art no longer takes centre stage .And is very much community and country specific. Why is this ? There are a few reasons, culture,political,economic change and the birth of the internet . It seems that people now express themselves in different ways. Rather then making a work of art , they put there view on blogs or facebook in written formate .Art no long has the focus of the world. Gay art being a very culture sensitive and specialist media it was the first to go underground . In recent year the art word has been criticised for being "only for artists".I believe this is due to the age of MONEY . It seems the greater world do's not care for the meanings or history of art, but rather where the next payday is. With the modern family spending there time on facebook and watching TV shoes that capture what art used to. Art as a hole has lost its hold . Art is relevant only to the artists that makes it and the institutions they belong to .


                                          (1)

                                                                 Dana Wyse



                                              (2)

                                                            Diego Tolomelli



                                  (3)

                                         Joe Average ( reaction to being told he has HIV)

                                  (4)

                                                          Robert Mapplethrope


Author:Dana,Diego,Joe,Robert area few artists that are the gay art legacy of the modern era .The foces is no longer about colour and statements as it was in the 60's,70's, or 80's. Rather then making a statement it is no longer about making a statement using art but of political and monetary values. For the freedom of acceptance we have paid a heavy price by for going and for getting about the art that got us here in the first place. The gay youth of today only respect there right for individualism in that they believe that it is owed to them .

                                                     (Summary and Conclusion)

Sexuality and colour  are they linked to each other ...yes they are . I think it is not a simply case of "Yes" . As I have talked about it has its bases in many different elements of humanity,culture, historical elements,political elements . Art is embedded in everything that is human as is colour in every homosexual person born today . There are no scientific studies to prove the attraction of colour and homsexuality .So on a scientific level it would be wrong for me to suggest that colour is just something we feel. However it would be ignore what so many hold in there harts . Colour is to gay people as the white dove is to peace .Freedom, hope, the ability to see the world in the way many can not.Colour the freedom of expression.






(1)Rebecca Container Gallery ,2012,Dana Wyse [Online] Avaliable at :http://www.rebeccacontainer.com/wyse.htm

(2)Iko Studio,2012,Diego Tolomelli[Online] Avaliable at:http://www.ikostudio.it/en/

(3)Joe Average Art,2012,Joe Average Bio.[Online] Avaliable at:http://www.joeaverageart.com/

(4)Robert Mapplethrope,2012,Robert Mapplethrope Bio:[Online] Avaliable at :http://www.mapplethorpe.org/biography/

3)The Aids Decade 1982-92

Page.4                                           

Author: The era between 1982-92 was one off great loss, sadness, learning and culture awakening with in the gay community and "homo art" around the world.As showen in the film (1)"Angles in America". Of course I am talking about the Aids pandemic. This time in history is one of the most important times in over 2000 years of gay culture because of what it symbolised about us as people, our culture, beliefs and desires. The 1980's was a time for change for many. Bold thinking and hope is what the 80's have been remembered for as well as bold fashion and colours . On an intellectual level this was directly translated into art. Most politicians ignored what was happening however art did not!  To me this is a very important time being born in 1985 I  believe that the power of what the 80's where has some how made me who I am as a gay person .

  In my own studio work colour plays a never ending roll. I have always loved colour and on some cosmic level I consider myself to be a "Child of Colour" as most people who where born in the 1980's would consider themselves not in a racial form but an artistic one . This statement is very important as its translates itself to "Homo Art" from the 1980's right un-till the pressent day.But not only in art but in fashion too .

                                             (2)

Robert Lance Gösi ©2012

                      (2) 

                                                       Robert Lance Gösi ©2005

                                                            Gilbert and George 

                                        (3)  
                                                            Hunger (1982)

(3)‘We are driven by everything that is slightly taboo, by the forbidden.’ Sexuality is a central theme of Gilbert & George’s work, which is explored in images that are often provocative and disconcerting. Hunger and Thirst show a sexual act that is depicted in a cartoon-like, almost diagrammatic, manner. The artists have commented on these works: ‘we wanted to confront the viewers in a museum, as normally you don’t see this stuff, and make them accept it. It was done in a cartoon like way because in reality they would never have been accepted at that time’.



                                     (4)

                                                           Thirst (1982)

(4) In the 1990s, Gilbert and George made all-out war on every possible taboo associated with bodily fluids, extending their well-established turd genre to include everything else, such as blood and sperm. Their researches involved using a microscope to examine their own blood cells and urine crystals. They explained this in the following terms:‘Fundamentally, there’s something religious about the fact that we’re made of shit. We consist of the stuff. It’s our nourishment, it belongs to us, we’re part of it, and we show this in a positive light’.This attitude of not excluding anything as a subject for their art arose from their daily walks, were they came across the seamier aspects of life on the streets of Whitechapel.


                                                         Use of colour !

(5)After their initial hesitancy, Gilbert & George were remarkably confident in their use of colour. Bold areas of blue, yellow, red and green transform their black-and-white source images, shifting them from naturalism to an imaginatively charged, heightened reality. ‘Now we use more colours, but in each picture they mean something different… They can be symbolic or they can be atmospheric or emotional… It’s more a part of our own language, really – part of our vocabulary’, they have said."

(6)

 (6)  Keith Haring was a talented pop artist who dedicated his career to bringing gay art and AIDS awareness to the masses. Between 1980 and 1985, Haring created innovative drawings on empty black advertising panels in the New York subway. Often producing dozens of these drawings in a day, Haring used his art to engage passers-by in the act of creation as well as the resulting images. In 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop, a Soho retail outlet selling his artwork on t-shirts, posters, toys, buttons, and magnets. While many in the art world criticized the shop’s commercialism, Haring remained committed to sharing his work affordably with a diverse audience. He received a great deal of support from his friend and mentor, fellow pop artist Andy Warhol. After being diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, Haring established the Keith Haring Foundation to raise money and provide art to AIDS organizations and children’s programs. Haring dedicated his art and the two last years of his life to creating awareness and fostering understanding about AIDS. In 2008, two of his brightly colored sculptures were added to UNAIDS “Art for AIDS” collection. Haring’s brief but intense career was only the beginning of his growth as a gay icon. His colorful, provocative, and socially-conscious images form an important part of the history of gay symbolism.

      (7)

   (7)Gran Fury was an activist art collective that formed in the late 1980s as an offshoot of ACT UP. Gran Fury’s primary objectives were to educate the public, provoke direct action and expose government and civil negligence in regard to the AIDS pandemic. Graphic campaigns, using commercial advertising techniques, targeted the streets rather than galleries and museums. They are perhaps most famous for their image of three interracial couples (straight, gay and lesbian) kissing above the caption “Kissing Doesn’t Kill: Greed and Indifference Do,” as well as their work at the 1990 Venice Biennale where they juxtaposed two billboards: the image of the Pope with a text about the church’s anti-safe-sex rhetoric; the other a two-foot-high erect penis with texts about women and condom use.

(8)

            (The pink triangle was originally used to denote homosexual men as a Nazi concentration camp badge.)

(8)

(The pink triangle, rendered in hot pink and sometimes turned upright as a gay pride and gay rights symbol, was originally rendered in pink and used pointed downward on a Nazi concentration camp badge to denote homosexual men.)





Author: It is important to look at colour usage and the culturally definition of the colours and there uses. Pink and Red featuring over most over other colours in "homo Art" but not so in other art form such as  fashion  where greens,blues,yellows and oranges where in common use .
    Pink being a colour carried on from the 40's onto the  60's and more over the end of the 1970’s.As talked about the 1970's where time of activism . Red being a colour of war, fair and warning . Dos the mean that "Homo Art" where symbols of aggression . Yes and at the same time no. It was to catch the attention of the media . It was both a warning and a cry for political understanding. Red is also the colour of passion,which was held as sub context for the passion that people felt. Not only felt then due to the Aids era but felt as every day people . Pink being the colour of power and pride . Gay activests often refer to the term "Pink Power". In business the term's "Buying Pink", "Pink Line" and the "Pink Pound" refers to the buying power of the gay community ! Hot pink also featured in the original gay pride flag of 1979 . The colour Pink for the LGBT community holds the same meaning as the "white dove" for paces ....its powerful connotations carry on into the 1990's and 2000's . 

(1)Angels in America.2003,Film Mike Nichols,America,HBO Home Video.

(2)Robert Lance Gösi Art,2012,Homos-Sexuality.[Online]Available at:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.270735392999685.65964.177273905679168&type=3

(3)Tate Modern,2010.Gilbert & George Hunger.[online]Available at: http://beta.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilbert--george-hunger-ar00173

(4)Tate Modern,2010.Gilbert & George Thirst.[online]Available at: http://beta.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gilbert--george-thirst-ar00174

(4)Milwaukee Art Museum,2008,Gilbert & George development.[online]Available at:http://www.mam.org/gandg/details5.htm

(5)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(6)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(6)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam.[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(6)The Keith Haring Foundation,1997-2012,K.Haring.[Online]Avaliable at:http://www.haring.com/home.php

(7)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam .[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(7)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( The Aids Decade,1982-92 "Art" pp.218-119)

(7)Laura Slezak Karas ,2008,Gran Fury Collection ,Pdf,The New York Public Library
Humanities and Social Sciences Library Manuscripts and Archives Division .[Online]Avaliable at:http://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/archivalcollections/pdf/granfury_0.pdf

(8)Wikipedia,2012,Pink Triangle,[Online] Avaliable at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_triangle

1) Introduction - Early Greek & Roman Art

Page.1 Introduction

Author:Sexuality & colour .How do they work together in art if indeed they do work together? As an artist and a person colour is in our every day lives, we see it everywhere we go. Each waking moment as well as our un-waking moments is filled with the experiences and emotions courtesy of colour. I aim to explore the use of colour in modern day art. More specifically homosexuality and how it can be misunderstood. What do colours say about the subject matter, about calture, about us as people and what opinions are formed by this art works. Before we can understand current works we must understand past works and calture norms of the day. By looking at art from 400 BC to 2000 AD I hope to form a contextual picture that explains and talks about the issues of colour in homosexual art.

                            (1)   


                                               Early Greek & Roman Art
(1)The Ancient Greeks produced one of the earliest well-developed examples of gay art. Unlike in other ancient cultures, the Greeks considered free adult male sexual attraction to be both normal and natural. The Ancient Greeks even sanctioned relationships between teenage boys and older men as a rite of passage for males just entering puberty. These homoerotic relationships were the subject of elaborate Greek poetry and art. Vivid images were often painted on black figure vases, hundreds of which survive today. Some of these distinctive vases show an older man giving gifts to a boy, while others show more overtly sexual acts. While the Ancient Greeks understood sexuality in radically different ways than we do today, their art serves as a reminder of a time when same-sex attraction was accepted and even celebrated.

                              (2)

                        Attic black figure cup (520 BC) ceramic cup.Museum of Fine Art Bosten .
(The bearded taller man displays a conventional courtship gesture of the time .He fonds the genitals of a boy who reciprocates by touching the mans chin )


                                                    (3)
                                             Warren cup (1-20 CE) Siliver,British Museum .




                                      (4)
                                              Apollodors,Decoration on a ceramic vessel .


Author:It is interesting to see how far back homosexual & and paedophilic art goes back. It is also interesting to note the format in which it was documented in .As for back as 500BC homosexuality was common places…it was entrenched in Greek and Roman calture. And as we struggle for acceptance too day what is still taboo in some circles was very much a norm of the day.


However the art that we see in Greek and Roman worlds where largely void of colour. It seems that colour in this time period did not hold as much focus as the placement or arrangement of the art. Colours where limited to, blacks, earthen reds, browns and yellows. As most documented homosexual activities where painted on pots. What where the subjects doing, what type of people where they, how old where they. Age was a big factor in the Roman and Greek era. Often men would have boys as there sexual companions and lovers rather then adult men.

(5)“The ancient Greeks did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social identifier, as Western societies have done for the past century. Greek society did not distinguish sexual desire or behaviour by the gender of the participants, but rather by the role that each participant played in the sex act, that of active penetrator or passive penetrated. This active/passive polarization corresponded with dominant and submissive social roles: the active (penetrative) role was associated with masculinity, higher social status, and adulthood, while the passive role was associated with femininity, lower social status, and youth”


Author:It is important to list some of the calture difference between Greek and Roman art that was directly affected art both in early years and in today art. In the Roman world Law where set that controlled its citizens. Such as: Man-child born to Free Man (Not slaves) was strictly off limits as lovers to adult men.(5) And as early as 2nd centrey BC Male-Male rape had been out lawed. (6)And one very important fact that gay marriage (marriage between male & male, young or older) was excepted in early Roman Empire but become disapproved later on .


In both Greek and Roman one thing is clear. That age was not important it was simply they act of sex that was the key factor.


So what if any sugifactes is ancient Roman and Greek art, as colour did not enter homosexualiy type art till around 1000 AD or at lest in any significant term. It was the culturally trends that where carried on that would influeance the types of colours used in art and there meanings. As well as effecting many of today’s cultural taboos that continue even with in the homosexual community, such as underage gay sex and attraction to young people.



(1)Revel & Riot,2011.Abrief History of Gay Art and Symbolisam .[Online] Avaliable at.http//www.http://revelandriot.com/lgbtq-art

(1)Halperin, David M. “Homosexuality.” The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford University Press, 1998. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. York University. 5 October 2010.

(1)Shapiro, Harvey Alan. 2007 The Cambridge Companion to Anchaic Greece. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2 (. pp. 90 – 91.)

(1)Shapiro, Harvey Alan.2007 The Cambridge Companion to Anchaic Greece. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (. pp. 90 – 91.)

(2)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( Varieties of "homosexuality" Varieties of "Art" pp.15.)

(3)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( Varieties of "homosexuality" Varieties of "Art" pp.16.)

(4)Reed.C,2011.Art and Homosexuality A History of Ideas .Oxford.Oxford University Press( Varieties of "homosexuality" Varieties of "Art" pp.18.)

(4)Hornblower S. and Spawforth A. Oxford Classical Dictionary entry on homosexuality,Oxford,Oxford UniversityPress (p.720–723)

(5)Martial 1.24 and 12.42; Juvenal 2.117–42. Williams, Roman Homosexuality, pp. 28, 280; Karen K. Hersh, The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 36; Caroline Vout, Power and Eroticism in Imperial Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 151ff.

(6))Richlin A, 1993 "Not before Homosexuality", California ,University of Southern California Press in junction with The University of Chicago ( p. 561.)